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Cultural

Fa'afatama

A Samoan gender. Assigned female at birth, living in the manner of a man, inside a Samoan family. It belongs to Samoans.

  • One of twenty-two Cultural identities
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  • 4 min read
A character with a cup of tea in a shop full of plants and pottery

A word that belongs to a people. This identity is held within a specific culture. The page is here to understand it, not to adopt it.

A shorter entry: the essentials, written to the same standard. The fuller guides are on the main identities.

What it is

Fa'afatama — also written fa'atama — is a Samoan word for a Samoan person. Fa'a means in the manner of. Tama means boy or man. Assigned female at birth, living in a masculine place in Samoan life, not making the same claim a Samoan man makes and not obliged to explain the difference to anyone. Wikipedia records the literal meaning as "in the manner of a man" and describes fa'atama as natal females who align with a third gender or masculine role in the Samoan Islands.

It is the counterpart of fa'afafine, and it is the less visible half. The same Wikipedia record says plainly that fa'atama do not enjoy the level of acceptance fa'afafine do, with some growing support. The first dedicated association, The Rogers Club, was formed in Apia in 2018 and named for Mama Roger, a former president of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association; the 2020 short film The Rogers of Samoa is about them. Older word on record: fa'atane, now fallen out of use.

Now the closed part, plainly. If you are not Samoan, this is not your word. Not by feeling, not by admiration, not by being a masculine woman or a trans man. Fa'afatama is bound to aiga, to village, to language and to obligation that nobody can opt into. It is also not a translation of lesbian, butch or trans man, though some fa'afatama use one of those words as well, and some refuse them. The community, on record, prefers its own terms to Western ones.

Pronouns

Samoan does not gender its pronouns; ia covers he, she and they. In English, many fa'afatama use he/him and some use she/her with older relatives or in church without taking it as a wound. Many are simply called by name. Follow the family's lead and do not correct anyone in front of their mother.

Does this sound like you?

You were the one sent to help the uncles, not the aunties, and no adult treated it as a problem to solve.
You are Samoan, and "tomboy" was the English word people used about you for years before anyone said fa'afatama.
You have heard fa'afafine discussed at every family occasion and yourself discussed at none.
Palagi people ask whether you are a lesbian or a trans man. "I'm fa'afatama" is the honest answer, and they hear it as an evasion.
In one weekend you wore the men's ie faitaga to a funeral and were told off by a cousin in Samoan-accented English, and both were ordinary.
Church every Sunday, and you know exactly which pew and which shirt keep the peace.
In New Zealand or Australia the forms give you boxes, and none of them is the one you live in.
You found a club of people like you late, and the relief was mixed with anger that it took so long.

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Nearby identities

The distinction is the useful part.

Fa’afafine

Same culture, opposite direction — assigned male at birth, living in a feminine role. Far more visible, far better organised, and the association and annual week are named for both. Not a synonym and not interchangeable.

Compare Fa'afatama and Fa’afafine →
Fakaleitī

The Tongan neighbour, which Wikipedia lists as a cognate word. Different country, different people, different politics. Swapping the two is sloppy, not respectful.

Compare Fa'afatama and Fakaleitī →
Māhū

An older Polynesian category from Hawai'i and Tahiti. Belongs to its own peoples and is closed in exactly the way fa'afatama is closed.

Compare Fa'afatama and Māhū →
Transgender Male

Genuine overlap, different framing. Trans man is a claim about gender backed by medicine and law that travels to any country. Fa'afatama is a position inside Samoan life that does not travel and never required a clinic. Some people hold both.

Compare Fa'afatama and Transgender Male →
MVPFAFF

An acronym coined by Pacific activists to hold these Pacific words together without dissolving them into LGBTQIA+. You can sit under it and still be specifically fa'afatama.

Compare Fa'afatama and MVPFAFF →

It might not be you if…

  • You are not Samoan. That is the entire answer and it is not a soft no. Your own people may have a word; if not, the open vocabulary has plenty of room.
  • You were assigned male at birth. Fa'afafine is the word people would reach for.
  • You are a Samoan woman attracted to women who lives as a woman. That is its own thing and not a lesser version of this.
  • You are drawn to the idea of a fourth gender more than to the actual content — the church, the family, the silence, the chores.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between fa'afafine and fa'afatama?

Direction. Fa'afafine are assigned male at birth and live in a feminine role; fa'afatama are assigned female and live in a masculine one. Fa'afafine are older in the written record, more visible and more accepted. Wikipedia records that fa'atama do not yet enjoy the same acceptance, though support is growing and they now have their own association.

Is fa'afatama the same as being a trans man or a lesbian?

No, and not unrelated either. Both English words are individual claims that travel anywhere. Fa'afatama is a Samoan social position with family and obligation attached. Some fa'afatama also use trans man; some are attracted to women and some are not. The community, on record, prefers its own word to Western ones.

Can a non-Samoan be fa'afatama?

No. It is a Samoan word for Samoan people, tied to aiga, village and language. Being masculine, being trans or loving Samoan culture does not open it. Part-Samoan and unsure is a real question — and one for your family and community, not for a web page.

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Last updated · How these pages are written and checked

No flag is shown because none is settled. Text: written from how people who use the word Fa'afatama describe it.

Sources:

  • Faʻatama — Wikipedia — Literal meaning, definition, lower acceptance than fa'afafine, precursor word fa'atane, The Rogers Club (Apia, 2018, named for Mama Roger), the 2020 short film, cognate words, community preference for traditional terms. Fetched and read.
  • Faʻafafine — Wikipedia — The counterpart entry; used for the fa'a- prefix and for the relationship between the two words. Fetched and read.

This is not a clinical instrument, not a diagnosis, and not evidence of anything about anyone. It describes experiences so you can recognise your own — or rule them out.